CHAPTER 2388 A BIT TOO STRONG
"Isn't his Highness a bit too strong these days?"
In a combat arena inside the training manifold in the Kandrian Empire, several Masters exited together upon the completion of a long and extensive sparring session. Despite their exhaustion, their eyes were lit up with a wave of fresh news that had just reached their ears that very day. "I mean, don't get me wrong," Master Ceeran continued. "He was always strong. But one hundred Masters?"
It was truly shocking news to almost every Master who heard it. Master Ceeran had just returned from the G'ak'arkan Tribe in time to learn about the news upon the very day of his arrival.
"It isn't nearly as surprising as it is shocking," Master Zentra calmly remarked. "His Highness' new technique was something truly special. Just based on the demonstration and testing that he conducted here, I knew that when he first debuted it on the battlefield, it would send ripples across East Panama."
Several others nodded along in agreement.
It was a truly shocking feat.
Yet, they weren't surprised that it was the young Master who had accomplished it.
"It's a damn shame I wasn't there to see it." Kane grinned with excitement. "I bet those alliance Masters didn't even know what hit them. They must have been struggling to know how to deal with him in the first place."
"They have lost their two peak Masters. Thus, they no longer have any means of containing him in combat," Master Zentra pointed out. "Their hands are tied when it comes to harming the Shionel Confederation unless they decide to rely on Sages, but that will lead to losses that neither side is able to tolerate."
Things were looking up for the Kandrian Empire for the first time in months.
If not for the blemish of the immense harm that the Kandrian Empire had been unable to protect the Shionel Confederation from, things would have been absolutely perfect.
"Until they find a way to deal with the massive mental burden of his empowered Martial Mind, they will never be able to handle him," Master Vericital remarked knowingly. "They will essentially need to start treating him like a natural calamity and avoid him altogether."
They would need to essentially create a battalion of Masters who were solely specialized for keeping Rui occupied while having Masters who couldn't handle his Martial Embodiment focus on assaulting the Shionel Confederation.
However, none of them had failed to understand that this was exactly how Sages were treated in most battles.
The biggest impediment to attacking a Sage-level nation was, of course, the Martial Sage. Conventional tactical schools of thought involved deploying a Sage to neutralize that Sage and simply keep them busy while Masters then attacked the nation. Rui was reaching a level of tactical dominance such that his enemies would need to treat him the same way they treated Sages. He was an extraordinary impediment that could only be curtailed by an equally extraordinary Martial Artist. This text is © NôvelDrama/.Org.
"They can't deploy Sages against him due to escalation and Sage intervention, and any Martial Master they deploy cannot defeat him or even stall him for too long," Headmaster Aronian commented with a composed tone. "However, what worries me is that the alliance is too determined to kill him. On top of that, Rui is too nonchalant about the risks. In his pursuit of the Sage Realm and knowing who he is, he will push himself to the brink of death if it brings him closer to his goals. I only worry that he will go too far and push himself over the edge."
Paternal care could be heard in his tone as he worried about a Master he had overseen since the latter was twelve years old.
"Don't worry, Rui is strong. On top of that, the Silas Matriarch will foresee any disaster like that ahead of time," Master Ceeran reassured him.
"You're expecting too much of her," Master Sera disapproved. "She is already at her limit as far as her prophetic work goes. She is indeed a Martial Sage, but she is already using her predictive power for the battles being fought across all of East Panama. On top of that, she is keeping tabs on the Britannian Empire's prime minister as well as the enemy Sages. She cannot afford to spend every second looking after Rui. I have heard that the Emperor is making use of truly powerful Sage-level resources to increase her productivity in exchange for more longevity potions for her clan."
In other words, the Celestial Seer could not be counted on to do more than she already was doing; she was an overworked resource.
In addition, the Eye of Prophecy was primarily a combat-oriented technique; using it for things outside of combat increased the consumption of energy and the liabilities. "I'm not concerned about enemy Sages getting their hands on Rui," Master Zentra replied. "We have entire coordinated departments whose sole purpose is to track enemy Martial Sages. Even without the Silas Matriarch, it should be impossible for a Martial Sage to kill Rui without us ever foreseeing it. What I'm concerned about is if the alliance gets their hands on a Master who is able to kill him. His Highness is acting carelessly and excessively riskily at the moment in hopes of accelerating his enlightenment of self."
That was a more grounded concern.
However, it was difficult to imagine any Master in East Panama possessing the power to kill Rui.
"His Martial Path and Art are too potent," Maser Ceeran reassured them. "They're probably the highest grade that any Path has ever been. I don't think even the Silas Clan's specialty is a match for his Martial Art. In fact, now that I think of it, has there ever been any Martial Artist who could rival him when he reached the peak of a Realm?"
It was a pertinent argument, one that all of the others found quite convincing.
Only one person seemed to have a different thought in mind.
"I can think of one." Kane's surprising words drew their attention.
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